Jason Erickson
http://www.stickpeople.com/projects/de/index.html
Title of Project and Summary
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DE (de-ee) - The Distance Education device
The Distance Education (DE) device will demonstrate the use of a set-top
box (National Semiconductor SP1SC10) as an educational training tool. It
will combine the use of video, along with the communication capabilities
and intractability of a computer device, to allow a unified and enhanced
learning environment.
The Opportunity
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Distance education is increasing becoming common place at many educational
institutions. At the lowest level, distance education allows student(s)
to be taught by a teacher that is not at the same physical location.
Existing technology is then used to bridge the instructional gap. This
allows workers to updated their skills and knowledge, provides college
education opportunities, and reach people that are disadvantaged by time,
distance, or even physical ability.
Distance education today can consists of technology in four different
categories:
* voice - audio tapes, telephone, audio conferencing
* video - slides, video tapes, video conferencing
* data - email, Web, electronic teaching material
* print - books, papers, study guides, workbooks, handouts
Opportunities lie in unifying the above categories. The DE device will
look at combining primarily video and data.
Over the past year, I have taken two distance-learning courses from the
local university, SDSM&T (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology).
How this works is that about 1 1/2 weeks after the class was held, I
would receive a video cassette tape in the mail. I would then log on to
the class web site and download any instructional material for that week.
I could then watch the lecture. Any assignments that I needed to complete
would be emailed to the instructor. For tests, I was required to find a
proctor and setup a time to take the test with them. Since I am located
close to the school's campus, I chose to setup a time with the department
and took the test there.
The DE set-top box is able to improve the following situations:
- It takes over a week since the class was held and I receive the video.
It could be converted to a digital format and therefore downloaded,
having a shorter distribution time. This option might not be viable
for people who do not have broadband internet, like in a rural part of
the country, but would be a good option for those that do have it.
- Tapes currently cost a little over $1.00 for a T-60 tape. The class
could be distributed on CD-Rs, cutting the cost of the media in half,
and possibly cutting the cost of mailings as well. Distributing the
class on CD-Rs would also allow electronic material to be distributed
with it, instead of the need to obtain it separately. A disadvantage
may be the loss of investments in existing VCR duplication equipment
and the need to purchase CD-R duplication equipment.
- The two devices, a VCR and a computer, needed to previously take
advantage of the class is now one device.
- A student could have more interaction with the lecture that is
currently being viewed. In class assignments could be completed on the
DE device before the lecture continued. An email can be sent while the
student is watching the class lecture if the student had questions over
what was 'presently' being discussed. Tests could be taken on the DE
device, but might not be desired because of concerns with cheating.
Features of the prize package that will be used
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The DE device will use the following features:
IR Keyboard
NTSC Output
S-Video Output
Audio Output
56K Modem
10/100Mb Ethernet
DVD ROM Drive
Floppy drive
Creation software will also be coded, that will also work on the reference
platform. That might make use of the following features:
NTSC Input
S-Video Input
Audio Input
PS2 Port
10/100Mb Ethernet
IEEE 1394 Interface
DVD ROM Drive
Qualifications
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I graduated from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T)
in 1997 with a Computer Engineering degree. For a year after graduating
from SDSM&T, I worked for Dakota Scientific Software (DSS), writing SPARC
assembly functions, porting DSS's mathematical libraries to Linux, and
hand optimizing FORTRAN programs.
For the past 3 1/2 years, I have been an embedded systems programmer for
Comuniq, programming on an Intel i960 embedded processor for their Voice
over IP (VoIP) solution. My responsibilities have been to design and
develop the chip driver interface for the Infinion PEB2254 T1/E1 line
interface chip and port a third party ISDN signaling stack to our system.
On a part time basis, I have administered a FreeBSD System for the last 5
years for a company that hosts about 20 web sites, having the
responsibility to rebuild/update the OS, configure Apache, sendmail, DNS,
and ftp servers. For freelance work, I have written a Windows WDM device
driver for a USB device.
Software Plan
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On the DE device side, WebMedia is planned to be used and enhanced via
it's plugin architecture. The enhancements need to be able to allow the
following:
In-class assignments.
On-screen assignments, with the ability to submit them via email.
On-screen tests, with the ability to submit them via email.
Remote retrieving of lectures, from either the modem or ethernet port
to the local hard drive.
Management of lectures that are downloaded (delete, view).
Allow other digital media to be included. The extent of digital media
needs to be experimented with because of limitations of the output
device (the TV). A paper distributed as a PDF file might not
display well on the TV or it might be cumbersome to scroll both
up/down and left/right if zoomed in to readable levels. Other
digital media also under consideration is sounds and text documents.
The plugin(s) will be written in C. Depending on the approach of
packaging the lecture, a database such as PostgreSQL or MySQL database may
be used. Addition software may be required for other digital media, such
as Ghostscript or Adobe Acrobat Reader, or the SOX sound library for
converting/playing sounds.
The creator side will require a program that would put together the
lecture and package it up. It will need to digitalize the input stream
and allow insertion of any of the following:
In-class assignments - Assignments that are done 'in class'
On-screen assignments - Assignments to do for the next class period
Tests - Taking a test
Include any other digital media (handouts, lecture notes) for use.
The creator will be written in C/C++, Python, Java, or a combination
thereof.
A demonstration web site will be created as well, to demonstrate the
remote receiving of lectures, built upon either Apache or Zope.
Additional Hardware
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Just a consumer TV will be required for the device.
For the creation software, there is a need to get video into the system.
A VCR, video camera, or USB video camera will be used for this. CD-Rs
will be recorded on another system, since the reference platform does not
have a CD-R recorder.
Future Potential
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Although this is being promoted as a use for distance education, it could
also be used as an educational training device as well.
This concept could also be taken a step further and slightly modified by
allowing the lectures to be streamed over a CATV system at a predetermined
time instead of distributing via CDs or Internet. This is not viable for
distance education students, because their numbers are typically small,
their distance varied, and their time availability differ. This might
would work for a small university cable system that a majority students
reside on campus.
References for the project
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I have consulted some people at SDSM&T in regards to this idea and would
continue to do so throughout the development of this project.
I will also take advantage of the Linux4TV site:
http://www.linux4.tv